Crime & Punishment Release

We are proud to announce the release of Crime & Punishment! This is a flat data site that community members, journalists, and policymakers can use to learn about what data is and is not available from their justice agencies. This site is set up to allow you to follow a case as it would normally proceed through the justice system starting with a victimization in Chicago then moving through the Cook County system and completing its journey with the Illinois Department of Corrections. We hope that you find this site useful and that it improves everyone’s understanding of the pure volume of data that is available within this system.

Certain agencies like the Chicago Police Department seem to release a tremendous amount of data, and they do, but they still withhold exponentially more data then they release that could inform policy and empower communities. While other agencies like the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office & the Circuit Clerk of Cook County refuse even to tell CJP what data fields they use to capture data. There is no telling the impact on policy and communities their data could have if they moved away from operating as if they are incapable of releasing data and joined fellow agencies, cities, counties, and states across the US and released their data.

CJP has requests pending with some agencies and hopes to work with our partners to update the site as information is made available to us from the justice agencies.

CJP does maintain data sets for your use. You can access these data sets here.